A federal civil rights lawsuit has been filed by a Gardena man who claims Torrance police officers followed him into the Toyota campus where he works and forced him to the ground in front of his boss and other co-workers because the license plate on his motorcycle had been stolen.

Erik Elzy’s suit contends officers violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures and committed battery and false imprisonment during a traffic stop that dragged on for 45 minutes.

Additionally, the suit claims Elzy filed a formal complaint stemming from the March 27 encounter and that “to date the department has not conducted a single interview of any witness to the incident.”

A lawyer representing the city of Torrance was not available for comment, but told Elzy’s attorney in an email that the city would be “vigorously defending” the suit.

Elzy’s attorney, Jonathan Birdt, contrasted the behavior of Torrance police officers with that of the California Highway Patrol, which also stopped Elzy in March for the missing license plate.

Because Elzy had previously notified Gardena police that the plate had been stolen from his motorcycle, he was given a copy of the police report to show authorities if necessary until a replacement license plate arrived.

“It took approximately five minutes for (the CHP) to look at his insurance, to look at his police report and send him on his way,” said Porter Ranch-based Birdt. “That’s how it’s supposed to be done.”

In Torrance, however, Elzy was followed for several blocks by a patrol officer who did not activate his lights or siren, according to a lawsuit filed Dec. 11 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Although Torrance police had been trained to check in with company security when entering the Toyota Motor Sales Corp. complex, that allegedly did not occur in this case, Birdt said. Instead, the unidentified officer followed Elzy for about a mile on the Toyota campus until he got off his motorcycle and began walking to his office. At that point, the officer ordered him to stop.

When Elzy asked why, the officer cited the missing license plate. When Elzy told the officer the plate had been stolen and offered to produce the paperwork verifying the theft, the officer did not allow him to retrieve it and said he had requested back-up because of Elzy’s “threatening physique.”

Elzy, who is black, stands about 6 feet tall and weighs about 240 pounds, Birdt said.

When the back-up arrived, the pair “impermissibly expanded the scope of the detention,” the lawsuit reads.

“Both officers battered the plaintiff by impermissibly touching him in performing a physical pat-down search and physically forcing him to the ground,” the lawsuit said. “Plaintiff, a law-abiding citizen, became concerned about the violation of his rights, the length of the detention and the fact that it was occurring on the premises of his long-time place of employment.”

With his co-workers and boss watching, Elzy requested a police supervisor, who arrived yet still refused to release him.

As the traffic stop stretched to 45 minutes and Elzy’s boss repeatedly requested the officers leave because they were trespassing, the officer who made the initial stop allegedly replied that “we are the police and can do whatever we want.”

Elzy received a ticket for not displaying his license plate and failure to have insurance. When Elzy said he did, the officer struck that infraction from the citation.

“The initiating officer was improperly trained by his department to believe he could indefinitely detain a citizen for an infraction and refuse to release or verify information provided by a citizen because he lacks the adequate resources or legal authority to initiate the stop in the first instance,” the lawsuit alleges.

Under the law, Birdt noted, an officer must have a “reasonable suspicion” a person is armed or committed a crime before he or she can be patted down.

“An investigative detention must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop,” Birdt quoted from a legal ruling in the lawsuit.

In an email to the city, Birdt offered to settle the case for $28,000.

But Deputy City Attorney Della Thompson-Bell declined to enter negotiations, saying she was unable to respond to the lawsuit until after the holidays because of extended City Hall closures.

Still, Thompson-Bell indicated to Birdt in a Dec. 23 email that she was “confident” the city would request the case be dismissed.

“I have just listened to the recording of the entire traffic stop as recorded by the original police officer,” she wrote. “The assisting officer and supervisor also recorded as they arrived on the scene. … We will be vigorously defending these baseless allegations.”

Thompson-Bell did not respond to requests for comment and for a copy of the recordings.

Birdt stopped short of describing the actions by the officer who made the stop as racial profiling. The American Civil Liberties Union and others often describe such traffic stops as “driving while black.”

“I would hate that to be the only reason and prefer the explanation to just be a lack of proper training by the department on how to handle a simple traffic stop,” Birdt said.

Veteran journalist Nick Green is the beat reporter for the cities of Torrance, Carson and Lomita and also covers the South Bay's rapidly growing craft beer industry for the Daily Breeze. He has worked for newspapers on the West Coast since graduating in 1987 from the University of Washington and lives in Old Torrance with his wife and two cats. Follow him on Twitter @NickGreen007 and @BeerGogglesLA.